Member's Home Forums General Discussion Mexico Mexico Aeronautical & Regulatory Caribbean Sky Tours meets with new ATC management

Caribbean Sky Tours met with the new head of ATC (SENEAM) in Cancun, Raul Vega, to review concerns and issues faced by general aviation aircraft visiting the Cancun/Cozumel area. The meeting was extremely positive and we have agreed to organize regional metings between ATC management and general aviation aircraft owners and operators to share concerns, ideas and options.

Due to the meetings with the DGAC next Wednesday in Mexico CIty, this meting has been postponed until the beginning of November.

As a result of our prior meetings with SENEAM (Mexico's ATC) we were invitied by the Director of SENEAM to meet with a select group of SENEAM staff and industry users on Thursday, October 28, 2010. The meeting was quite interesting and confirmed many perceptions that we have had. Each presenter was allowed 15 minutes for their presentation. The feedback from our presentation overall was positive although the Director of SENEAM was at first taken a little taken back by some of our observations. Apparently this is the first time they have received any feedback from the general aviation community. The good news is that they got over the initial surprise and that we had a positive conversation once the formal meeting was over and we will begin working meetings to address the details. The following is a summary of the notes taken at the meeting.

Present:

• SENEAM, Mexico’s aviation agency that runs ATC operations.
• ASUR, private operator of the Cancun, Merida, Cozumel, Villahermosa, Minatitlan, Bahias de Huatulco and Oaxaca airports.
• Continental, American and US Airways airlines
• FAA
• IATA
• Other private companies

Topics covered:
• Review of runway operation and safety features of the Mexico City airport. Surface RADAR capabilities and plans for runway incursion warning capability
• Hurricane contingency planning for airports in hurricane zones
• Mexican safety reporting procedures.
• Re-design of Merida Center to establish a single sector that funnels traffic to Cancun versus the previous design that had two separate sectors trying to coordinate separately with Cancun Approach. The new capacity for this sector is 40 operations per hour
• Review of the new Cancun tower and the equipment and capabilities that it offers
• Review of the new RADAR system software and the capabilities that it provides

Caribbean Sky Tours (CST) was invited to present the needs of general aviation from Mexico's ATC. The CST presentation consisted of two sections. The first was to present the economic benefits of general aviation. This was essentially the same portion of the presentation made to the DGAC last week. The second section was a review of our specific needs from ATC. Included in this section was a comparison of the equipment and capabilities of a commercial airliner and that of a typical general aviation (GA) aircraft to highlight the limitations and inherent challenges faced by GA aircraft. The needs addressed were:

• To recognize that most visiting pilots DO NOT have a Mexican Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP) as it is nearly impossible to obtain and the information it contains will be of marginal benefit to a visiting pilot. The AIP is printed in Spanish and can only be purchased at the DGAC headquarters in downtown Mexico City. The way the guide is laid out makes it difficult for pilots unfamiliar with Mexico and the AIP also contains a lot of information that is not of use to a pilot in flight. Since most visiting pilots will not have an AIP on board, controllers should understand that any instruction to comply with a procedure only found in the AIP will not be able to be complied with and that they should specify what actions they wish the pilot to perform. We have had issues at some airports where controllers have instructed pilots to follow VFR procedures only found in the AIP which has resulted in confusion.

• To provide visiting VFR and IFR pilots with the same services that are offered to airlines. There is a perception that airlines receive priority over general aviation traffic. We have specifically asked for:

o That GA aircraft receive appropriate wake turbulence separation and notification. There was an accident in Mexico City about a year ago where the secretary of state was killed in a Lear 45 which apparently ran into the wake turbulence of a 767-300 that preceded it. There has been more attention to wake turbulence separation with airliners and we want to be sure that GA gets equal attention.

o In many parts of the country controllers at centers are unfamiliar with providing flight following to VFR aircraft. Providing this service is specifically mentioned in the AIP, however, it is seldom requested or offered. We have asked for a review of this procedure and communication to all centers about offering this service.

o Avoiding unnecessary maneuvers for separation. At some airports VFR aircraft are forced to make orbit making 360 degree turns for separation. We have asked that controllers look for ways to sequence aircraft that do not penalize VFR aircraft unnecessarily and create situations where multiple aircraft are orbiting in close proximity to each other.

o We have asked that weather capabilities be included in approach and center RADAR facilities. Considering that most GA aircraft do not have WX RADAR and that XM weather has no METAR, TAF or RADAR information for Mexico, GA aircraft are at a disadvantage.

o We also asked that a misconception be cleared up at the national level. At a number of ATC facilities and dispatch offices around the country, there is a belief that VFR aircraft CANNOT fly along airways. This has created confusion for some US and Mexican pilots. It was clarified that VFR aircraft ARE allowed on airways as long as they maintain VFR altitudes.

Once the presentation was complete, it was agreed that working meetings need to be held between the GA community and SENEAM. CST has been asked to coordinate these meetings and we have scheduled the first one for the first week of December.